Supermarkets

As of yesterday Vientiane has its first real supermarket – Rimping ! Rimping Supermarket, located at the View Mall (which itself is still under construction) is a “upper-end” supermarket, maybe best compared to “Jason Supermarket” in Singapore or “Foodland” in Thailand. “We are a little different to other supermarkets” says Rimping and after visiting their new branch in ……

Construction of the planned Nongchan Shopping Mall in central Vientiane, which was expected to begin this month, will be postponed until the end of this year, the developer has announced. Krittaphong Group Co., Ltd. said officials in chargea of the project only recently finished negotiations with shop owners at the existing Nongchan market where the shopping mall is to be built, in which merchants agreed to move to make way for the project. For this reason, the start of construction had been …….

Lao World Public Company (Lao World) plans to build the biggest ever market in Laos with the project announced on Saturday as the company’s showpiece development. The project, named ITECC Market, will comprise a supermarket, duty free shop, sports stores, grand convention halls, business and entertainment venues, health and beauty centres, financial services, and restaurants. ITECC Market is the second phase of the Lao ITECC project. It will be nine storeys high and is being built on a ….

When reading in the local newspaper that the Morning Market Talat Sao mall 2 was officially opened on Friday, 11 November 2011, I was curious to see for myself if the new mall would meet everybody’s high expectations. Visiting the mall this Saturday, I was rather disappointed, as only a few stores on the first and second level of the mall are occupied; everything else is still vacant or under construction. The “official opening of a shopping mall still under construction” would have been more appropriate as a headline. However, looking at it from a more positive angle, once the mall is complete and functional (meaning all stores are occupied and open to the public) it will definitely be “the” place to visit in Vientiane

A new shopping destination is set to open tomorrow right in the heart of Vientiane’s commercial shopping strip: Dongpalan Rd. D*Mart, the latest installment from the owners of the already successful Home Ideal, will bring together a supermarket and a fresh market in the same location for the first time. The site will also include a food court, souvenir stores, electrical appliance stores and retail fashion and cosmetic outlets.

The US$100 million hotel is a joint investment between the Ministry of National Defense, which will hold a 25 percent shareholding and the Regal Global Investment Development Group. The project contract is for a period of 99 years and the hotel will replace the existing Rasavong Hotel at km5 area in Xaysettha district.

According to the group, the hotel will consist of 350 rooms, including 20 VIP rooms and 30 suite rooms, on a total area of 120,000 square meters. The hotel will also contain a shopping complex, as well as restaurants, entertainment facilities and a cinema.

It is always cheaper to purchase goods in Thailand if you have the chance to get across the border. If you are part of a large family and stock a lot of food in your home, or you just don’t like shopping frequently, one of the best places to do grocery shopping is Makro. This is a ‘cash-n-carry’ chain that originates in Holland and sells everything from foodstuffs, groceries, cleaning products to electrical goods and office supplies.

Whilst many Vientiane residents eagerly await the proposed supermarket soon to open at the new morning market shopping mall, many will likely continue to frequent the various minimarts dotted around the city that stock imported goods catering to foreign tastes. Most expats soon get a feel for where to buy what, but there are a number of other minimarts which are fairly unassuming from the outside which actually stock a fair amount of imported goods. So which are the best?

Many expats enjoy a day in Udon Thani combined with a shopping trip. The town offers a plethora of supermarket shopping venues with everything from corner stores to hypermarts but one venue often overlooked and undervalued is Big C. This Thai owned chain that now also operates in Vietnam has an outlet in Udon Thani quite unfortunately hidden behind an overpass. Neverthless, for the discerning shopper, Big C can turn out to be quite a good destination.

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